I was rereading Siddhartha this week, and some new passages jumped out at me this morning as I reached the part of the story where Siddhartha begins to shed the version of his Self that was rich, lustful, and materialistic. I won’t spoil the plot and how Siddhartha arrives at the understanding of his new Self--it’s a short and quick read that I highly recommend, but I wanted to share a few of them with you:

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When I read this, I automatically thought about how I’ve had ideas, listened to my intuition, taken action, and followed the calling and my intuition. Now, my journey has taken me to a different place than Siddhartha, but it was the same formula.

Note: It’s important to note that in the book Siddhartha, the main character is not Buddha--this is a common misunderstanding, so I’m not suggesting that the formula will lead you to enlightenment, but the book is believed to be influenced by some of Buddha’s life, so maybe it will.

This explains why I talk about planting seeds and trying to help people reach their own awakenings and understandings; there are some things you can only comprehend through experiencing your Self, and there’s a good chance that experience will confirm what you already knew.

And to build upon this, the final passage I wanted to share,

While Siddhartha is not the biography of Buddha, it is an important spiritual book that is believed to draw from some of Buddha's story, so I won't discount the lessons I find in them, especially when they align with core beliefs I've arrived at--maybe that's a case of confirmation bias, but I don't see it being a bad thing.

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See you tomorrow and keep pursuing,

JC